1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the art of electrical connectors, and more particularly to electrical contacts for a land grid array (LGA) socket.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional land grid array (LGA) socket 6 is illustrated in FIGS. 6–7. The socket 6 basically comprises an insulative housing 60 having a plurality of passageways formed therein, each passageway receiving an electrical terminal 62 therein. The terminal 62 is made from one piece, and includes a base portion 620 having barbs 621 formed thereon for securing the terminal 62 in the passageway and a pair of spring arms 622 and 624 respectively extending out of opposite surfaces of the housing 60 and resisting two separate electronic components 7 and 8 so as to establish electrical connection between two electronic components 7 and 8.
Referring to FIG. 7, when the electronic components 7 and 8 are pressed down to their final position, a height H between the components 7 and 8 are normally unchangeable in order to maintain a sufficient pressing force between the spring arm 622 and 624 as desired by establishing an effective electrical connection. However, under some particular design consideration, there is a need to increase the height H. Consequently, the base portion 620 of the terminal 62 has to be elongated such that the whole length of the terminal 6 can satisfy the requirement of the increased height H. As a result, dies for manufacture of such a terminal 62 have to be modified to make a different configuration, which increases the overall cost of the LGA socket 6 and makes the manufacture process of the LGA socket become relatively complicated.
Further, the LGA socket is often used to transmit high frequency signals, which requires the terminals used in the socket have a relatively high capacitance and a relatively low impedance. However, the terminal 62 as disclosed in FIGS. 6 and 7 has a very simple configuration and its low capacitance and high impedance cannot fulfill the requirement of high frequency signal transmission. Therefore, there is a need to invent an improved terminal to resolve the above-mentioned shortcomings.